November 12 -- Fifty years ago, the greatest moment EVER in television news...

[regnaD kciN]

...and an event that will never be forgotten in the Pacific Northwest.

[unblock]

1. News you need to know!

[LeftInTX]

2. I must have been washing my hair that night...sorry I missed it!

[mr_lebowski]

3. Your plan is f***ing genius if I understand it correctly (nt)

[Brother Buzz]

4. Think You Used Enough Dynamite There, Butch?

[NBachers]

5. Dave Barry's Exploding Whale article

https://www.theexplodingwhale.com/evidence/resources/dave-barry-article


I am absolutely not making this incident up; in fact I have it all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon, which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for getting rid of the carcass was placed upon the Oregon State Highway Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are very similar in the sense of being large objects.

So anyway, the highway engineers hit upon the plan — remember, I am not making this up — of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces, which would be eaten by sea gulls, and that would be that. A textbook whale removal.

So they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably not guilty of understatement when I say that what follows, on the videotape, is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting “Yayy!” and “Whee!” Then, suddenly, the crowd’s tone changes. You hear a new sound like “splud.” You hear a woman’s voice shouting “Here come pieces of… MY GOD!” Something smears the camera lens.

Later, the reporter explains: “The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere.” One piece caved in the roof of a car parked more than a quarter of a mile away. Remaining on the beach were several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There was no sign of the sea gulls, who had no doubt permanently relocated in Brazil. This is a very sobering videotape. Here at the institute we watch it often, especially at parties. But this is no time for gaiety. This is a time to get hold of the folks at the Oregon State Highway division and ask them, when they get done cleaning up the beaches, to give us an estimate on the US Capitol.

[exboyfil]

6. The spokesman reminds me of the sheriff in Night of the Living Dead

Note it is not Florida.

[MissB]

9. Paul Linnman

Still in the news business in Portland. Was an anchor for many years.

[electric_blue68]

7. Bwahahaaaaaa... Ewwwwwwwwwwww!

Think I read about this a few years back!

And no, I'm not looking at the vid.

[James48]

8. I remember that!

I had to have been like 8 years old when that happened, and I remember that!

[Duppers]

10. Omg! A whale of a tale with stupid solution.

Tug boats could've pulled it out to sea (??) and then held down by weights (??) which would've made a lot of scavenging sea critters happy.

Other than this, how could they have solved this problem?

[Hekate]

11. OMG, I do remember that, & Dave Barry's article! Reading it again now I am laughing like hell...

That video is priceless.

It is to be hoped that in every coastal Public Works and Roads department there is a chapter in the policy book about NOT dynamiting a dead whale on the beach.

[Midnightwalk]

12. I'll recommend this every time

At least once a year. Best news cast ever.

[Dave in VA]

13. This must be

the training film for the current tRump administration?

[redwitch]

14. WKRP Thanksgiving episode popped into my head when I watched this.

“I swear to God I thought they could fly!”

[mopinko]

15. pro tip-

blast mats.

long ago i worked construction. the project managers asshole, incompetent, drunken son was the head of the dynamite crew.
we were building a sewage treatment plant on a limestone river bank. we blasted to break up the rock, then dug it out w backhoes.

macho man that he was, he used 3 times as much dynamite needed on a particularly large blast.
i was there to observe the blast and report any damage.

when they blew the charge, the blast mat went 50' in the air.
every single one of the managers cars were damaged.

but somehow, asshole still had a job the next day.
his old man always said he should have left that one in a rubber behind the couch.