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submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

Everyone is asking about the whale, but I’m wondering how the accidental sex ban worked.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

According to the article they used poor wording for some law.

[-] [email protected] 43 points 3 days ago

Intending to prevent people from having sexual intercourse in view of bystanders, the council approved a measure that made it illegal to have sex "while in or in view of a public or private place."

Bold is my emphasis to show the error.

[-] [email protected] 32 points 4 days ago

Can someone please elaborate on the exploding whale?
Wikipedia is unusually cryptic on the subject in the article and Youtube won't let me open the linked videos for some reason...

[-] [email protected] 67 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Oh, man, have I got a story for you...

https://youtu.be/V6CLumsir34

If that link doesn't work... In 1970 an 8 ton dead gray whale washed up on the beach in Florence.

Now, in Oregon, all the beaches are public beaches, under the control of the highway department, and they didn't know how to remove a dead whale.

So they packed it with 1/2 a ton of dynamite and blew it up thinking the seagulls and crabs would eat the bits remaining.

[-] [email protected] 36 points 3 days ago

I'm so excited for the person you're telling about this. Imagine seeing that video again for the first time?

I remember clear as day downloading this video from Limewire and the incredible majesty of understanding that people are, in fact, this stupid.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

shit, my grandma was there. she's got pictures.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

For real?

Has she ever mentioned what the F people were thinking at the time? This seems like a solution that only a 1980's cartoon would have come up with.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

she was thinking "oh look a whale" and then "oh look WHALE" as i remember her telling it. lots of jokes about umbrellas and knowing where to stand.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago
[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

gran grew up on a farm. she's seen shit

[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

An important note: it didn't work very well. It blew the whale into large chucks, much larger than they were hoping for. iirc one chunk landed on a reporter's car, crushing it.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

My favorite part of the video is the little old lady voice going "Here come pieces of... whale!"

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

It spattered whale gore all over the witless witnesses

[-] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I've finally understood Monty Python. They were just trying to act like regular Americans

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Wow. This was a... blast... from the past.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

The strangest part is that this is not the only time humans have blown up a whale carcass, and it's just gone everywhere.

Here's a modern folk song about it happening in Novia Scotia, lol

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

The blast blasted blubber beyond believable bounds.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

Oh my god, I totally love that news report!
Has some distinct Monty-Python-vibes!

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Now, in Oregon, all the beaches are public beaches,

i think that might be a west coast thing because it's a California thing too. Would Washington State chime in please?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

History on the Oregon law here, passed in 3 B.W. (before whale).

https://www.opb.org/news/article/history-oregon-tom-mccall-public-beaches/

While California has public beaches, they have private beaches as well. In Oregon the entire coastline is public.

https://www.californiabeaches.com/california-state-beaches/

Looks like WA is the same, public/private mix.

https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/coastalatlas/

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

those "private beaches" in california are public beaches that landowners with land near the beach keep trying to steal

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

Did that guy ever get compensated for his smashed car? What a crazy idea.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

Cue Farmers... "We've seen a lot of things..."

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

This is more like the mayham guy.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

"I'm the 8 ton whale that washed up on your beach and when the local highway department tries to make me go away with 1/2 ton of TNT, your cut rate insurance might not cover a 700 pound slab of me trashing your passenger compartment."

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

Can someone please elaborate on the exploding whale?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJHKB4arFNQ

Warning: It's catchy af.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Dead whales (the huge variants) at a certain state of decomposition can literally explode due to gaseous buildup. Maybe related to that?

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

In this case it was human intervention.

With dynamite.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

1.2 Accidental ban on sex

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

1.3 Sand dunes

  • There are amazing sand dunes

1.4 exit sign out of town.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)
[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2025
340 points (99.7% liked)

Funny

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